Jigsaw - youngballymun
Jigsaw - youngballymun (for young people aged 12-22 years and the services that support them)
Jigsaw - youngballymun is an integrated youth wellbeing initiative spanning youth work, health and wellbeing, community development, education and employment. The service is developed in partnership with Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health and is part of ‘Jigsaw’, a national response to youth wellbeing developed by Headstrong
For more information on Jigsaw - youngballymun, please contact:
Catherine McGowan - Wraparound Facilitator & Network Coordinator
Phone: 01 8832172
Email: catherine@youngballymun.org
Jigsaw-youngballymun has 3 strands:
1. Universal services
In developing Jigsaw - youngballymun it was recognized that there was a unique opportunity to embrace a universal approach to the promotion of well-being among young people in Ballymun. This strand concentrates on expanding youth-friendly facilities in Ballymun and the capacity of young people to support each other. The work includes the resourcing of a youth café, a peer mentoring programme and training and capacity building opportunities for young people, their parents, members of the community and those working with young people. Across the whole Jigsaw - youngballymun service we will actively engage with, listen to, and empower the voices of young people within the community. The key to this is the Jigsaw youngballymun Youth Advisory Panel.
The axis arts team (DJ Moschops & Emma Connors) are currently working with two groups of young people aged between 14 and 21 over a ten week period. The project involves the use of digital media, podcasting and radio to explore youth issues. Once this 10 week project has finished, the young people will then have the opportunity stay on as members of the Jigsaw youngballymun Youth Advisory Panel and so will be involved in other exciting and important work over the year.
Jigsaw youngballymun is delighted to offer a public information session, which will be delivered by Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. This session is for members of the Ballymun community who come into contact with young people for example when volunteering with a sports group, youth club, or as a member of a community forum, who are interested in understanding more about youth mental health and how to support young people who may be struggling. The session is being run twice on Wednesday 3rd March 2010 and Thursday 6th May 2010 from 19.00 – 21.30 in the axis Centre. Places can be booked by contacting Catherine McGowan.
- Brief Lecture Series for staff groups on “Supporting Young Peoples Mental Health”
We are currently running a brief lecture series for organisations and services who are engaged in the Jigsaw youngballymun strategy to promote the mental health of young people within the community. The series consists of three one hour lectures covering the following topics:
o What is Youth Mental Health?
o Promoting Resilience in Young People
o Working from a Strengths Perspective with Young People
The lectures are delivered by Helen Coughlan, Education, Training and Development Co-ordinator with Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. To date we have begun this programme with the Aisling Project and the Gardai with dates in the future with Trinity Comprehensive School and BRYR.
- Jigsaw-youngballymun Lunchtime Lecture Series
Following the success of the 2009 programme the lunchtime lecture series continues into 2010. The lecture series has been developed to be a resource for community practitioners, to raise awareness of mental health topics, to promote both local and regional services for young people, highlight referral pathways and to give practitioners recommendations when working with young people. The programme runs every second Wednesday in the axis Centre from 12.30 – 1.00 and is open to practitioners in the Ballymun area, our Spring schedule includes:
- February 3rd “Eating Disorders and Adolescence”– Bodywhys
- February 17th “Crisis Pregnancy” – The Crisis Pregnancy Agency
- March 3rd “Bereavement and Young People” - Barnardos Bereavement Counselling for Children
- March 24th ’10 “Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Young People” BeLonG To
2. Jigsaw Wraparound Facilitators
Jigsaw Wraparound establishes an integrated support system for young people built on their individual strengths and the strengths of their family and community. Adults from the statutory, community, and voluntary sectors who work with Ballymun youth are trained to assist young people to manage social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. These adults – known as “Jigsaw Wraparound Facilitators” (WAFs) – have ongoing access to a clinical and coordination support service dedicated to supporting Wraparound in Ballymun, and work with young people and families to help identify strengths, goals, and resources associated with improved outcomes.
Agencies have been working hard to implement the programme in their own unique settings for example BRYR are applying the model to their Outfit Programme while in Trinity Comprehensive School WAF has been integrated into the schools Care Team Structure. As part of the ongogin support to those already training in Wraparound three refresher workshops will take place during February and March. The three sessions will cover “Engagement and Explaining Wraparound”, “Exploring Concerns and Eliciting Strengths” and “Engaging a Team and Goal Setting”. 2010 will see two more rounds of Jigsaw Wraparound Facilitator training which will include the use of a training DVD produced in Ballymun and staring two of our own WAFs Peter Doherty from the Aisling Project and Rachel Lillis from the Probation Service who acted alongside young actors from the Roundabout Youth Theatre. This DVCD will be used for training in Wraparound across a number of Jigsaw sites.
3. Crisis response
The community crisis response service aims to provide a resource for young people in Ballymun who are in significant distress. Research into internationally proven models of community-based crisis response services and an assessment of local need provide the foundation for this service design. In addition, the service design will be informed by local experts and service providers such as educators, local youth services, representatives of the juvenile justice system, Headstrong, the HSE, Mater child and adolescent mental health services, and the greater Dublin area Out-of-Hours Social Work service. Currently, the crisis response service is in the final stages of the service design phase.
